The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Trajan Pro vs Trajanus
Two commercial serifs that share a namesake and almost nothing else. Trajan Pro is Carol Twombly's 1989 Adobe Originals face, an all-capitals rendering of the Roman square capitals carved at the base of Trajan's Column. Trajanus is Warren Chappell's 1939 text roman for the Stempel foundry, a full upper- and lowercase book face with a pen-drawn, Venetian character.
Trajan Pro is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Cinzel, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Trajan Pro → Trajanus is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Sorts Mill Goudy, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Trajanus →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- Trajan Pro has no lowercase at all: the lowercase slots hold small caps, because Roman monumental inscriptions never used minuscules.
- Trajanus pairs Roman-inspired capitals with a Carolingian-flavored lowercase, long ascenders, short descenders, and a chancery-style italic, so it sets running text.
- Trajan's forms come from brushed-then-carved stone letters and are tuned for display sizes, which is why it is a fixture on film posters and book covers.
- Trajanus was drawn in roman and italic by Chappell with a semi-bold added by the foundry; Trajan Pro 3 (Robert Slimbach, 2012) spans six weights and adds Greek and Cyrillic.
- Both are paid fonts: Trajan Pro is included with an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription or sold per style, while Linotype Trajanus is licensed per style through Monotype.
Trajan Pro
Reach for Trajan Pro when you need authoritative, inscription-style capitals for titles, posters, packaging, or anything that should feel carved in stone.
Trajanus
Reach for Trajanus when you need a historically rooted book or editorial text face with a working lowercase and a lively calligraphic italic.